Physical description

Set of 14 duplicated newsletters printed on coloured quarto or foolscap duplicated paper, "Trammie Link"



.1 - November 1978 - 1 quarto sheet - complaining about the lack of union leadership - published by a "tramways rank and file group"

.2 - March 1979 - 4 sheets - training, shift work, Burke Road tram, route 72 tram, Gardiner, lifeguards, uniforms.

.3 - April 1979 - 4 sheets - disciplinary panel, rosters, Camberwell depot, route 72, buses, North Fitzroy, Doncaster, Clifton Hill, Z class cars.

.4 - May 1979 - 4 sheets - discipline, lifeguards, bus safety, union issues.

.5 - June 1979 - 3 sheets - politics and unions, Preston depot, Camberwell depot, wage indexation, union matters, finance for public transport, Tramway Record.

.6 - August 1979 - 10 pages- Preston Depot, item written by Jim Harper, public transport and government, hook turns, union meetings, women, ACTU, wages, shift work, rosters, depots, wage indexation, shift lengths.

.7 - June 1980? - two pages - undated - Service cuts at North Fitzroy, depot committees, news from depots, and note re a meeting on Monday 7 July.

.8 - July 1979? - 4 pages - strikes, union campaigns, depot management, industrial issues, discipline, depot facilities.

.9 - Sep. 1980 - 3 pages - Lonie report, buses, closure, public transport, union, 35 hour week, unions.

.10 - Oct. 1980 - 4 pages - union elections, industrial campaigns, 35 hour week, Lonie repot, public transport.

.11 - Oct. 1982 - 3 pages - Preston workshops and new trams, new trams, W class trams, accidents.

.12 - Undated - 2 pages about Paul Krutulis - a scab or an Agent Provocateur - see https://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/interventions/years/11revival.htm - accessed 30-8-2016. - Extracted are the 4th and 5th paragraph below which give a bit of a background.

.13 - July 1991 - 4 pages - open letter to Jim Harper re union Amalgamation, rank file view, what it would mean to workers - a negative view. Amalgamation was a major push of the Hawke - Keating Government.

.14 - March 1992 - supportive of Jim Harper, dismissive of Lou DiGregorio, Union executive, union amalgamation, cross linking of tram routes, racial discrimination within the PTC, Kew Depot, ACTU. Lists the rank and file committee - see key associations.



Latham’s frustrations were shared by several would-be heroes in Victoria. In 1977 Paul Krutulis gained an exemption from union membership from the Arbitration Commission as a conscientious objector, only to find that tramway workers at Kew planned to stop work as soon as he appeared. Commissioner Cohen then recommended his dismissal, saying she “had to deal with the reality of the situation.” Krutulis later became president of a group called People Against Communism, before being murdered in September. Thus Krutulis departed the scene to be followed in early 1978 by motor mechanic Jack Kane, who had crossed a picket line at a Melbourne City Council depot. The AMWU forced the Council to sack him before it would end the strike.



In September of the same year, Barbara Biggs succeeded in provoking a confrontation in the tramways where Krutulis had failed, by refusing to join the union and prompting 100 unionists at Brunswick depot to go on strike. The union executive had arranged token action confined to this depot, but the members wanted more. The strike spread to Preston, then 2,000 trammies at a mass meeting voted for an indefinite strike amidst “rowdy outbursts”. When Biggs complained at being excluded from the meeting a conductress told her, “We should have let you in, love. You would have been torn to pieces.”



Paul was murdered by his brother George in Sydney - see the Age 29/11/1977, but there seems to be some conspiracy theories abounding as well.

Inscriptions & markings

Handwritten note / letter from Chris Jacobson.